Nursing leadership is marked by a range of theories, models, and frameworks that are beneficial in planning, designing, and implementing changes. Based on my current nursing practice, it seems that the transformational leadership theory and patient-centered care as an organizational behavior theory should be discussed. In particular, I work for a Home Health Care Agency and supervise case managers, nurses, nurses’ aid, IT department, human resources, and other departments.
In my practice, I use the principles of transformational leadership to ensure cooperation and integration across disciplines to provide patients with the services they need based on their specific experience and expectations.
The transformational leadership theory implies that a leader inspires and motivates employees, which results in their greater work involvement and productivity. In my point of view, this theory emerged from such operations staffing and compliance with technology. The innovations that occurred in the 20th century clarified the need to renovate nursing and the very approach to managing healthcare services (Reavy, 2016).
In this connection, my transformational leadership strives to pay attention to individuals, teams, and the whole organization while designing, introducing, and monitoring programs. From the point of organizational and management views, one may assume that the mentioned leadership theory appeared as a response towards making nurses more stimulated and encouraged to provide the best care possible.
Speaking of future directions and operations, I consider that transformational leadership should be developed and used to create a team spirit and shared vision. It is especially important for addressing resistance to change that may often be noted in nurses due to their perceived outcomes, habits, and many other reasons.
Patient-centered care may be regarded as the organizational behavioral theory as it proposes how nurses, managers, and leaders should approach care delivery processes and procedures. As stated by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), there are ten principles of such care, including the building of healing relationships, the customization of a patient’s needs, transparency, and evidence-based interventions (Reavy, 2016).
Operationally and organizationally, patient-centered care emerged as a theory that integrated the mentioned concepts and considered them as parts of a system. According to Whitehead, Dittman, and McNulty (2017), care oriented to patients occurred as a way to create a culture of safety and quality in terms of the nursing profession. The timely risk assessment and the use of various tools such as brainstorming, charts, diagrams, and other techniques allow me to control change implementation and anticipate the outcomes.
The positive role of patient-centered care was extensively studied by many scholars. Constand, MacDermid, Dal Bello-Haas, and Law (2014) who reviewed 101 articles found that partnership, communication, and health promotion were reported by the majority of them. Based on this review, one may identify future directions and operations for patient-centered care, which value employees and recognizing their contribution. In my practice, I also try to adopt the discussed principles and consider both employees and patients while preparing organizational improvements.
To conclude, my current practice is based on the transformational leadership and patient-centered care, the principles of which guide the way the managerial processes are organized in my Home Health Care Agency. These theories largely affected the nursing profession by adjusting it to modern reality with its technological advancements, patient needs, and employee attitudes. The prospects of both theories lie in empowering employees to increase their productivity and adopting an individualized approach to patients.
References
Constand, M. K., MacDermid, J. C., Dal Bello-Haas, V., & Law, M. (2014). Scoping review of patient-centered care approaches in healthcare. BMC Health Services Research, 14(1), 271-280.
Reavy, K. (2016). Inquiry and leadership: A resource for the DNP project. Philadelphia, PA: FA Davis.
Whitehead, D., Dittman, P. W., & McNulty, D. (2017). Leadership and the advanced practice nurse: The future of a changing health-care environment. Philadelphia, PA: FA Davis.